Day 3 - Gluten Free

Today was my third day of being totally gluten free and it's working out! If this week goes well, who knows, I may stay gluten free for the most part. It's as hard as I thought. You simply have to get used to eating and buying a couple different things...like rice noodles, various grains for baking, cornmeal...etc.

Breakfast-
Kefir w/ honey
Cereal w/ snowville milk
Lunch-
Noodles&Company Pasta Fresca w/ Rice Noodles!
Chocolate
Dinner-
Homemade tomato soup
Green beans
Dessert-
Frozen yogurt

Gluten-Free Week

Starting yesterday I decided to go gluten-free for a week. While I don't have many symptoms, there a part of me that thinks I may be gluten intolerant. Regardless, I think we eat too much wheat and I'm on a mission to eat more of good kinds of grains. It is tough to switch immediately to gluten-free, but I've done pretty well for two days. Here's what I've had so far:

Day One:
Breakfast - 
Bob's Red Mill Gluten Free Hot Cereal (with brown sugar and raisins...this is an old favorite!)
Apple
Lunch -
Avocado w/ salsa
Chicken
Dinner - 
EnviroKidz Organic cereal
2% Snowville Milk
Homemade Kefir (a newfound love)
Dessert -
Pomegranate Blueberry Sorbet
Snacks - 
Dried corn
Chocolate

Day Two:
Breakfast -
EnviroKidz Organic cereal
2% Snowville Milk
Lunch - 
PB&J on white rice gluten free bread
Apple
Chocolate
Dinner - 
Sausage and Beans
Masa harina and buckwheat corn bread
Snacks - 
Kefir

I keep you posted on the week to come...hopefully it's a success!

Training, Dancing, Kefir, and Bread

So, indoor training isn't going so well in terms of biking. More often than not, the good stationary bikes at the gym are broken or acting too silly to get any kind of workout. I've been swimming more than anything else, which I have really come to crave. Though, I must admit, when there's freezing rain coming down outside it's a bit difficult to will yourself to jump into a cold pool. Beyond the swimming, there has been ample swing dancing as my swing dance team is preparing to compete next weekend. While I love swing dancing and have had a blast working on our routine, I do believe it is somewhat destroying my feet and knees. It worries me waking up with knee pain, when I will be biking everyday for 10 weeks and relying on knees heavily.

Anyway, on a brief sidenote I have begun to make my own homemade bread as well as homeade kefir. I recently obtained some kefir grains, which originally came to the U.S. from Russia in 1940. Everyday now I've been drinking my kefir in the morning and replenishing the grains with fresh milk. It feels so good to be making my food with my own hands. This will of course be very different during my Bike and Build trip, however, I will start the trip with a strong body fed for months with only the best natural homemade goodies!

Newspaper Article

Check out this great article about my trip!

http://www.columbuslocalnews.com/articles/2012/02/08/multiple_papers/news/allwobiken_20120207_1053pm_6.txt

Photo Shoot

A couple of weeks ago I sent two newspapers a press release about Bike and Build. Well, I recently got a call from the photographer of one of them saying that he needed to take my picture for the story that is going to be published next week! I met him down on the bike path with my bike and full Bike and Build gear (I borrowed by boyfriends old jersey) and he took a bunch of pictures of me. It was a blast, though I was freezing by butt off with shorts and jersey. Oh well...it'll probably be cold in the Washington Pass this summer. Anyway, I hope this story boosts my fundraising, which has now passed the 1/4 mark. I'm at $1220, which is exciting, though I do have to remind myself I'm not even half-way yet. Keep your eyes peeled for my story in the Worthington area!

Just Going Along

I had a revolutionary discovery at the gym last week. As you may know, the stationary bikes have been disappointing, but my school just bought two excellent spinning bikes. They keep track of cadence and have all kinds of fabulous stuff. Not to mention, the seat is great and the handlebars are great. Plus, I can read while I bike to combat the boredom of being indoors. Anyways, today I did a good 15 miles and I could've gone more!


On another note, I had a generous donation come through today all because I made my email signature "Help me pedal across America to support affordable housing - http://bikeandbuild.org/rider/5568." So, today someone emailed me back asking about the trip and proceeded to donate. I didn't have to do anything! Just thought I'd share if other bikers are reading.

Death to Stationary Bikes

I finally make it to the gym today and had a lovely reminder at how terribly I dislike stationary bikes. To begin with, they're flat out boring...the scenery never changes no matter how hard you pedal. To combat the boredom I decided to read, but of course with the distractions of other people working off those holiday treats, that proved to be difficult. On top of that, I couldn't help but watch the computer of the biker next to me, which added an element of unfairness...one in which I had a serious disadvantage. She was pedaling slower than me and at a much lower resistance...great! However, when I looked closer, I noticed her RPM was way higher than mine and her mileage far surpassed mine. There was something seriously wrong with my bike (or hers).  I pedaled faster to see if I could catch her RPM, but it wasn't possible...that makes no sense! Oh well! Alas I stopped biking at only 7.25 miles, fed up with the boredom and broken bikes. I will attempt the gym again, as I need to stay in shape, but will avoid those bikes like the plague.

On a lighter note, just before the holidays my knee started really hurting for no apparent reason (well not my knee exactly but right above my patella). So, just to be safe I ventured to a sports med doctor in town to have it looked at.  After a thorough exam, he didn't actually tell me what was wrong, but just said to roll my quad out on a foam roller.  I suppose this is good news...I hopefully won't be looking at knee troubles this summer.